Thrive Foods is the final installment in the Thrive trilogy. While each book
(Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide, Thrive Fitness, and Thrive Foods) has it's
own unique focus, the three works do share a great deal of overlap. Thrive was Brazier's original work and
focused on proper plant-based nutrition. That work included nearly 100 recipes
but most were geared toward athletic training- smoothies, plant-based gels and energy bars, ect.
Instead Thrive Foods looks at
sustainability and doubles as an everyday cookbook- with over 200 completely
vegan recipes- many from popular vegan eaters around the world such as New
York's Candle 79 and Dirt Candy among others. I must note that many of the
other recipes are the work of my favorite plant-based chef and good friend Julie Morris.
While writing a healthy plant-based cookbook is it’s own
challenge, this work is much more, as it doubles as an original work of
research. The first 150 pages build on Brazier's past research in a new and
interesting way. In the past, Brazier focused on individual health and
how to fuel one's self for optimal performance. As a former professional triathlete, this seemed to be Brazier's nitch, but Thrive Foods moves beyond this and takes a
wider approach by examining more than just individuals, but rather
the sustainability of our food production and health of our planet.
As you might have guessed, this is no light topic, and
Brazier treats it with the same sincerity and authority as Michael Pollan, Mark
Bitman, or Jonathan Safran Foer. However, unlike them, Brazier forcefully and
convincingly argues that animal-based foods can never be sustainable. The
only environmentally sustainable diet is a plant-based vegan diet.
As Brazier demonstrates, “animal agriculture is one of
the greatest contributing factors to anthropologic climate change.” In fact,
animal agriculture releases more green house gases (Carbon Dioxide, Methan and
Nitrous Oxide) than all modes of transportation combined! To top this off,
producing meat is simply inefficient. In perhaps the most startling but also
interesting sections of the book, Brazier compares nutrients to fossil fuel
ratios of normally consumed animal products with vegetable counterparts.
In this section, Brazier admits his method is not perfect
but that it is the closest we can get to an honest comparison when discussing
the amount of nutrition derived from food from each fossil fuel burned. Using
the ANDI
scores, Brazier demonstrates that one would have to consume 3.95 calories
of animal products to obtain the same amount of micronutrients delivered from 1
calorie of lentils. Since, as Brazier explains, each calorie of animal protein
needs roughly 25 calories of fossil fuel energy whereas lentils only require
2.2 calories of fossil fuels, Brazier shows that meat uses 45.4 times more
energy to obtain the same amount of micronutrients from animals as from eating lentils.
Brazier also convincingly shows that the healthiest foods
(plants) are also more cost effective than animal products. Meat and dairy are
only affordable due to the incredibly imbalanced subsides that are given to
these industries. If meat reflected it’s real price to include the amount of
land and resources it actually used, Brazier argues that the average price of a
hamburg would jump well above $30! Even with these artificially low prices for animal
products, one would have to spend roughly 6 times as much money on chicken as on
lentils to receive the same amount of nutrients.
Even locally produced meat and dairy are large consumers
of natural resources. Cows require 30 gallons of fresh water every day
(producing one pound of beef uses over 2,500 gallons of water), and also
requires far more space (arable land is also a precious and increasingly scarce
resource). Because these grass-fed animals take so much longer to reach slaughter weight,
they consume a far larger amount of these resources. To top that off, nitrous
oxide and methane, both far more damaging to the environment than carbon
dioxide, are produced as a consequence of animal agriculture- and again since
these local grass-fed animals are alive longer, they produce more of both. And let’s not
forget that “food
miles” comprise only around 11% of the total carbon foot print of a food,
so even if you can get meat from nearby, it still required far greater
resources than eating banana’s grown in Ecudor.
Brazier takes it even further. In fact, as he notes, if
an average American refrained from eating beef for one year, it would save 1595
kilograms of CO2, which equates to driving around 7,000 miles. That is enough
miles to drive from New York to Los Angeles and back… and then departing New
York and driving to Miami. Rather than buying a new expensive hybrid, change
your diet. It makes a larger impact anyway!
Brendan and I at the Miami Half Marathon Expo
I would be remiss if I didn’t include a few words about
the cookbook itself. While many of the book’s recipes call for the use of oils
(particularly coconut
oil), most of them can simply be made without, or subbed with vegetable
broth if you follow a low-fat diet. What remains, however, is a stellar collection of foods, including the popular Thrive
Pizza I featured last summer. So go and check out Thrive Foods. It is not
to be missed and will give you some serious food for thought about where your next meal
comes from.
Cheers and happy Earth Day!
